Thursday, February 29, 1940

Mason City Globe Gazette

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Mason City Globe-Gazette (Newspaper) - February 29, 1940, Mason City, Iowa 5 4i loirt HIST HCU ART oepr or IOWA OES wotNCS NORTH IOWAS DAILY PAPER EDITED FOR THE HOME HOME EDITION THE NIWSMKR THAT MAKCS AIL NORTH IOWANS NEIGHBORS VOL XLVI ASSOCIATED AND UNITED PRESS tVUi WIRES FIVE CENTS A COPS MASONCITY IOWA THURSDAY FEBRUARY 29 1940 MASON CITY THE BRIGHT SPOT THIS PAFEB CONSISTS OP TWO SECTIONS SECTION ONE NO 124 WELLES WILL MEET HITLER FRIDAY Hoovers j Stand Is Opposed By CHARLES P STEWART Central Press Columnist CHIEF J EDGAR HOOVER ot the justice departments bureau of investigation seems to be getting into a mean row with congress over the civil serv iceing his organization The FBI Federal B u reau of Inves tigation isnt generally un der civil serv ice rules The theory is that these FBI sleuths are spe J Edgar Hoover cialists who cant properly be picked lor em ployment by the ordinary rules of competitive examination That is to say you couldnt select a Sherlock Holmes on such a basis Sherlock for instance might not be able to pass in arithmetic or grammar Yet maybe he could be a wonderful snooper Thus civil service rules wouldnt fit in his case But theres one stunt for which anybody ought to be or otherwise The fingerprint di vision It requires only firstclass eyesight and a magnifying glass to spot fingerprint evidence It would appear so anyway Accordingly the FBIs finger printers were civil serviceilized Not the rest fcf the bunch Now Chief Hoover objects even to that modicum of semiciviliza tion Hoovers Story civil agonists criminal and miscellane ouslunatics Chairman Robert Ramspeck of the representatives civil service committee is right on the job to accuse J EdHoover of hostility to thewhole civil service prin ciple dating back a generation and a hah at the least calcula tion Not to exaggerate Congress man Bamspeck speaks of Hoo vers dope as dastardly It appeals that the civil service examiners have not as a matter of fact questioned prospective fingerprinters relative to their political and economic view Theyve taken it for granted that they were honest if their recom mendations looked all right and theyve assumed that they were sane if they acted that way Their notion has been that the essential part of their examinatorial work was to satisfy themselves as to the candidates educational quali fications for the positions they aspired to And Congressman Hamspeck maintains that the examiners se lections have been o fc too His version is that GChief Hoover hates the whole competi tive civil service he sizes up a successful examinee as a political economic social moral or mental pervert not or his individual merits or demerits but merely because the latter is getting into his finger printing division by a methodthat he J Edgar doesnt approve of Not Altogether Popular The truth is that there are quite a few congressmen with whom the FBIisnt altogether popular They a kind of a potentia OGPU or GESTAPO Nobody charges that thats what it is now but back in Harry M TJaughertys day as attorney gen eral when William J Burns was his boss investigator plenty ol ugly tales were told of the effect that its operatives broke into the offices of antiadminis tration senators and representa tives ransacked their filing cab inets and engaged in numerous other questionable activities Thats a thing of the long past but it isnt entirely forgotten The treasurys secret service never has had any scandals nor has the postoffice departments though the postal inspectors have been accused of some errors o judgment TRAFFIC ALONG Auroras Maidens Go Rampant Put 50Bachelors in Jail BORDERKEPTfiT CLOSE CONTROL Germany Reported to Be Extending Siegfried Line to North Sea OLDENZAAL Dutch German rentier UPJ officials Thursday warneda number jersons who live in the reich but lave been temporarily sojourning n Holland to return to Germany efore March 1 Germany was reported reli ably to be extending the Sieg fried line defenses in modified form the entire length of the Belgian and Dutch frontiers to the North sea A number of persons of Dutch descent live across the frontier on German territory and some of these have recently been tempor arily in Holland They received orders that they must return to he reich within the next 24 hours or their passes to cross the frontier will be canceled The order presumably was in onnection with the reported ex tension of the German defense inc This report coincided with in tensified control of border traffic during the past few days and with reports at Eupen Belgium that Germany was closing her Belgian and Dutch frontiers probably Fri day Tightening of border control was believed to prevent spying on the German defense works Passes permitting limited border taneeled Sentence Raised From 15 to 199 Years in Retrial in Chicago CHICAGO Peter Nowak 32 thought he got a bum deal ir 1938 when he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for rape after bench trial He appealed to the state su preme court for a new trial I was granted Wednesday a jury convicted him The new sentence 199 years AURORA 111 maidens ran rampant over the itys bachelors Thursday in a eap year search for husbands ar ested some 50 and charged them vith the vicious crime of fail ure to marry The bachelors didnt 2 Observe Birthdays on Feb 29 At least two North lowans In heir 20s were celebrating their fifth and seventh birthdays Thursday as the calendar provided hem with such ah anniversary on that most unusual 29 Bobert Johnson Rockwell a Hason City junior college student celebrated his fifth birthday Thursday Bob was 20 years old Thursday He was born Feb 29 1920 in Rockwell His father died when he was 2 years old His brother David lives in Los An geles Cal and his mother is a nember of Johnson Geer grocery firm He was a graduate of Rockwell public school inthe year of 1938 md is in his second year of junior college Mrs Clarion Rohde of Osage daughter of Mr and Mrs Harry Milligan of Nashua who is 23 years old Thursday is celebrating ler seventh birthday anniversary as the anniversary occurs only one year in four She is the former Ruth Milli gan and was 29 1912 atNashua Ar Dvteb unwell w J HiHfcid iWe of the frontier German women wives of Dutchmen living in Dutch fron tier areas tried to enter Germany Wednesday on their old passes and were refused admittance Previ ously crossing for some time had been restricted to three places where strictest control was main tained even on Dutch workmen traveling daily to Geiman factor ies People entering Germany by railroad from Holland were al lowed to travel only on the Olden zaalBentheim route and were forbidden to leave their coaches AH train windows were shut tered and police agents rode in each compartment as far as Osna brueck According to travelers from Germany military posts at the frontier were strengthened bul Germans arriving in Holland usu ally were most reluctant to dis cuss conditions in their homeland MOTHER OF 13 DIES IN FALL Tumbles Down Stairs of Waterloo Tavern Coroner Investigates WATERLOO Marion C Remetch 42 Waterloo mother of 13 children the youngest years old died in St Francis hos pital Thursday morning of a basa skull fracture and brain injuries she suffered seven hours earlier in a fall down a tavern stairway here Her husband with whom shi had entered the tavern 10 minute before the accident said he be lieved she had mistakenly openeu the basement stairway door be lieving it to be the womens rest room M V Roethler tavern proprie tor said ho heard a noise on the stairs and ran to investigate find ing the woman unconscious Coroner Sidney D Smith wa investigating the fatal mishap Thursday have a They were seized on treets andin offices andhomes by flying squadrons of brunets blonds and redheads then hustled off to jail There they awaited trial and certain conviction in municipal court before unmarried jurors prosecutors judges and even defense attorneys Of the first eight tried all but one embraced and proposed to Judge Mary Beverly Ciosley 28 said he had been pro posing for years without luck He was thrown back into a cell Judge Whities said she couldnt accept all the proposals and in stead assessed fines ranging from four grams of perfume upward Jerry Levy owner a womens apparel shop was hit hard He was finod a complete spring en an officer of the court went off with him to col lect The city council with Mayor Audrey Kesel 25 a petite brunet dancer presiding passed resolu tions to tax all bachelors 5 per cent of their incomes and to give women priority at bars To the bachelors the days campaigning was no joke Un married girls manned the po lice fire and health departments directed traffic and issued censes At noon no report li had been received of any bachelor who had said yes to a marriage proposal But the city jail was jammed Mankato Working Are Destroyed MANKATO Minn the Mankato airport hangar burned several weeks ago Jack Lysdale lost two airplanes several motors and all his tools Lysdale a mechanic moved his shop into a downtown garage Early Thursday fire destroyed the garage Two more planes on which Lysdale was working were burned beyond repair Four automobiles stared in the garage also were destroyed Dam age to the garage and automobiles was estimated at 510000 LOOK INSIDE FOR SENATOR CHARLES W TOBEY Assails Questions on Census Takers Papers PAGE 2 Allison Sued for by Company PAGE 4 HolyFamUyHiKhh Diocesan Cafe Winner PAGE II Autos Stalled in California Flood ft of northern and central California lay under deep Hood waters and hundreds were S instor Franclsco ers an unres were inhstormThe of the flood in the streets of Nap a Cal by the immersion of automobiles abandoned by their Richard Wellers 27 an engi Carl Lies 40 a clerk and thur Ramm 26 a teacher were mongr the first seized Wellers vas picked up on a street corner ti his way to work He was irovvn into jail singing I Wish Had Some One to Love Me ave that up and asked for coffee nd a lawyer The flying squadron wont out nd got three bache threw them into the eel ith him Aurora inaugurated the leap ear government plan in 1932 to nliven a local bank moratorium nd general business headache he quadrennial drive to rid the ity of bachelors since has become serious Mayor Kesel who was elected n a hot election in which 18000 mllots were cast called the coun il to order after her flying quadrons had rounded up the Jachelors Alderman Helen Guy on sprayed the council chambei vith perfume someone played The Mcay Widow Waltz and Mayor Kesel began All bachelors should be sub ected to mental tests she said We need mirrors on street cor lers and believe no woman should e compelled to reveal her age o census takers She paused eyed a cuspidor a the corner of her desk and sum moned Police Matron John rrisch bachelor salesman RIVEfi BREAKS LEVEES Three Towns in Middle Sacramento Valley Surrounded by Flood SAN FRANCISCO OP The Sacramento river swollen by flood waters burst through leeves at seven places on a 12mile stretch and surrounded three towns in the middle Sacramento valley Thurs day Three feet of moving water sur rounded Princeton Butte City and Codora all small towns Some ranch families were ma rooned but most of the residents of the countryside had ample time to reach safety Almost the entire population of Princeton a town of 200 sought refuge in the high school gym nasium and in tho Methodist church There was no report of death or injury At Willows to the north there was a report that three U S en gineers who left Colusa Wednes day in a truck to inspect levees had riot been heard from Princeton is 16 miles north of Colusa Throughout the night 150 Manneriieiiri Line Deifflsl and townspeople to rescue those CCC workers manned boats caught by the swirling waters A sixfoot dirt bag barricade was built at the junction of the Sacra mento river and the Princeton CordoraGlenn irrigation district canal to deflect the water west from Princton FOUND DEAD IN CAE OTTUMWA Black 16 of Flpris was found dead in his car on a road near here Cause of death was not immediately de termined but Coroner Gordon Traul said it jnay have been due to carbon monoxide gas CHILD FATALLY BURNED DBS MO1NES Marie Ewing 6 year old Des Moines Negro child was dear Thursday as the result of burns suffered when her clothing caught fire in a Feb 5 mishap She and her little brother had been playing with matches Finnish Troops Are Forced Back to New Posts at Some Points HELSINKI powerful red army offensive toward the City of Viipuri is hammering into the secondarydefenses of the Mannerheim line a war commun ique said Thursday and has forced Finnish troops to fall back to new positions at some points after inflicting heavy losses The points at which the previously fighting within six miles of were not disclosed except that they were on the 25mile western half ot the Mannerheim line between the Bay of Viipuri and Lake Vuoksi The eastern half of the line which is anchored at Taipale on the shore of Lake Ladoga continued to hold off the red army repulsingthree Vig at tacks on Wednesday the com munique said The red army offensive esti mated nt Copenhagen to involve from 25 to 30 divisions of 150QO men each earlier this month smashed the first Mannerheim de fense positions on the western half of the Isthmus in the drive on Viipuri The positions are ir regular however and do not form a series of definite lines Even the fall of yiipuri which has been evacuated and is largely in ruins would not necessarily af fect the ability of the Finns to continue fighting from position to position through fortified areas far back of the city but it would broaden the front and permit greater red army maneuvering in the direction of Helsinki The communique said that new red army great on the eastern end of the line at Taipale had been repulsed as was a now attack northeast of Lake Ladoga in the direction of Pit kaeranla The communique indicated that the Russian forces attack ingthe Mannerheim line had bent the Finnish second line de fenses at some points and creat ed a highly dangerous situation for the Finns defending Viipuri although it was not admitted that the city was lost Enemy pressure on the western end of the line continued the communique said especially be tween the Bay of Viipuri and Lake yuoksi where our troops with drew in some places to their new positions The front between the bay and Lake Vuoksi is about 25 miles long the lake being neai the middle of the Karelian isth us The Russians lost 14 tanks in fighting on the isthmus according to the communique while a Kuhmo on the central front the Finns captured strong positions a few enemy Finds Baby Floating Around Room in Crib QUINCr Cal K Sloat awoke to find his five yearold child floating around the bedroom in crib Eighteen inches of flood sloshed about the room Sloal carried his sick wife and five children to safety The Weather FORECAST IOWA Mostly cloudy Thurs day night and Friday preceded by light snow extreme east Thursday afternoon slighdr colder extreme west Friday MINNESOTA Mostly cloudy Thursday night and Friday snoiv flurries and slightly cold er northwest Thursday somewhat colder west Friday IN MASON CITY GlobeGazette weather stati tics Maximum Wednesday 2 Minimum Wednesday night I At 8 a m Thursday Snow FOUR YEARS Maximum Minimum Precip AGO Trace C Tr OFFICIALS DETERMINED TO GET GUARANTEE U S Undersecretary Enters War Zone to Face Difficult Task By LOUIS P LOCHNER BERLIN When United jtates Undersecretary of State umner Welles arrives here Fri day he will find official Germany determined to fight England and trance until she has guarantees loth that the western powers will lot interfere with Germanys hat the last remaining wrong of he Versailles treaty loss of Ger man colonies be righted Nazi Germany has defined cen ral and southeastern Europe con sistently as lebensraum AuUioi zed sources attached specialsig nificance to one passage in the speech ot Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels Wednesday n which he said The German people are per fectly aware that in this conflict of arms between themselves and western plutocracy life and death are at stake Evasion is no longer All cuspidors must be removec from the city hall she said Grisch tightened the strings on a frilly white apron adorned with cold clips and carried out cuspi dorsHeKjasappointed to fake th place ofRobert became ill Wss sent pital with a feverwheh he he was to be matron Only one thing appeared to ma ihe girls campaign One flyin squadron in a regulation polic car equipped with siren chasei an automobile filled with baclie lors through the city streets ant lost them at the city limits Th bachelors parked in the nex township Back across the boun dary came the strains of a song Nya nya nya you can catch us We arc keeping up a fine ol tradition Mayor Kesel said in a interview This business of worn en proposing on Leap Year da goes back to the time of Margare of Norway who was queen o Scotland in 1288 You girls don have to take tor an answe from any man possible In other words Hitler is in no mooct to offer Welles any peace plan If others have any plan in formed circles intimated Hitler is willing to consider it but always from the viewpoint that Britain must renounce all claims or in tentions to interfere with Ger many on the European continent besides jging FEBRUARY ENDS AS GENTLEMAN Clouds Clear Away HI Some Sections Mercury Above Normal DES MOINES bowed out of Iowa Thursday in more or less gentlemanly fashion so far as the weather was con cerned Early morning clouds cleared away in many sections ot the state and temperatures averaged about five degrees above normal Keo kuk reported 05 inch of precipi tation while traces were recorded at Sioux City and Charles City Light snow was forecast for ex treme eastern Iowa Thursday afternoon and slightly colder weather was predicted for the western edge of the state Friday Thursdays high was 36 at Du buquc while Davenport Keokuk and Mount Ayr reported 24 Wed nesday nights low was 8 above at Blason City and Iowa Falls DIES OF INJURIES DES MOINES ff Injuries received when he was struck by an automobile last Friday resulted in the death Wednesday of Rny mond E Beck 53 of Des Moines NEW YORK was the big day of Bix Sexto calendas or leap year the extra day bestowed every four years with certain exceptions on a lengthening posterity by Julius Caesars astronomers Thursday John J Shelton ot East Orange N J celebrated his 22nd birthday and A L Rohrer of Maplewood N J his 20th though they are 82 and 84 respectively Caesars astronomers figuring out a calendar more satisfactory than the one based on the moon which the Romans then used devised a year of 365 days and six hours coinciding with the suns movements but to avoid bothering with the six hours every year they added an extra day to every fourth year But even so the sunand the calendar would fall out of step were it not for a more precise mathematical formula govern estowed Long Ago by Caesars Astronomers ing the occurrences of leap year The formula Every year the number of which is divisible by four is a leap year excepting the last year of each century which is a leap year only when the number of the century is divisible by four but 4000 and multiples 8000 12000 16 000 etc are common years Thus 1900 was not a leap year and this is the root of an error which caused thousands to cele brate Thursday the 21st birthday of Frederic an apprentice pirate and his consequent freedom to marry a maid named Mabel who was young and beautiful in 1879 when Frederick had lived 21 years Frederic was the hero of She Gilbert and Sullivan opera The Pirates of Penzancc from which came the melody but not the words of Hail Hail the Gangs All Here His parents told his governess when he was a child to take him out and ap prentice him to a pilot She mis understood and apprenticed him to a pirate At 21 in love with Mabel he asked to be released from his indenture The pirate king pointed out that since he had been born on Feb 29 he would not be released until he was 21 on Feb 29 1940 Back in 1879 when Die opera was first produced 1940 was a long way oft and the audiences guffawed when Frederic and Mabel assured one another that they would wait with their love unabated Thursday night the American Gilbert and Sullivan association presents tableaux of their happy union and count less pianos and amateur tenors will recall Frederics love But Sir W S Gilbert forgot about 1900 not being divisible by four Actually Frederic will not be 21 until 194f Some commenta tots e veiprwen so far as to claim that mere re nunciation by England is not arid France must give guarantees that Germany will not be interfered with every quar ter century Welles insists upon payine his own bills during his sojourn in Germany authorized sources intimated They made a fine distinction between visiting statesmen who come on invita tion and those who announced their coming Invited guests tlie nation are housed in Germanys new guest house the Bellevue palace Welles at his own request will live at the Adlon hotel three doors from the American embassy It was pointed out that what ever hospitality may be shown is talk of a dinner by both Foreign Minister von Rib bentrop and Field Marshal Goer be in the nature of vate courtesy Welles reaches here at a m a m C S T Friday German officialdom understands and appreciates that Welles de sires during his European trip to avoid being under obligations to ward any of the nations visited Also it is appreciated that he is coming strictly on business Welles Enters European War Zone ZURICH Switzerland fUR Sumncr Welles started into the war zone Thursday enrouto to Berlin to continue his European inquiry by conferring with Adolf Hitler Welles is expected to remain in Berlin until Sunday night con ferring with Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Mar shal Hermann Gocring in addition to Hitler He will return to Switzerland before continuing to France In Zurich Welles summarized the results of his talks at Rome in a conference with Leland Harrison the United States min ister to Switzerland From Zu rich his rain had only a 39 minute run to the German bor der He will arrive Friday morning The German press was entirely silent on his coming The only in timation the German publichad were denials in the press of Brit ish reports that Hitler would sub mit a peace plan to Welles Nevertheless discussions ot a peace offensive in connection with tour of European cap itals continued In Paris observer pointed out that Welles had vis ted Premier Bcnito Mussolini Italy quickly after he landed that he planned to see Muss again beforeleaving for Am indicated that Ah Roos t i L